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SPEECHES 



OF 



MESSRS. COLFAX. OF INDIANA 




AND 



TEADDEUS STEVENS, OF PENN., 



IN REPLY TO 



MESSRS. DIVEN ANE> BLAIR'S ATTACKS ON 
GENERAL FREMON'l', 



Delivered in the House of Representatives^ April 21, 1862. 



Mr. DivEN, of New York, having spoken in 
support of his resolution " requesting the Attor- 
ney General to take proceedings to recover from 
John C. Fremont and E. L. Beard the sura of 
money obtained from the public Treasury on 
the order of said Fremont, payable to said Beard," 
he was replied to as follows : 

Mr. COLFAX. Mr. Speaker, there is one 
thing that I can say for the enemies of General 
Fremont, and that is, that they exhibit a per- 
sistency in their malignity that is worthy of a 
far better cause. Why slept the thunder of the 
gentleman from Ncav York during the five months 
that Congress has been in session? 

Mr. DIVEN. The gentleman will allow me to 
correct him. This resolution was introduced by 
me the very day that I read the report of the 
committee, and I have been watching for its turn 
ever since. I have not the knowledge of the 
rules that the gentleman from Indiana has, and 
which might have enabled me to have brought 
it forward at an earlier day. 

Mr. COLFAX. 'She explanation is poorer than 
if the gentleman had answered with silence. He 
was a prominent member of the New York State 
Senate before he came here, and must have been 
familiar with parliamentary rules. We have had 
opportunities for general debate often in this Hall 
during this session, and he has had ample oppor- 
tunities to make the speech which he has made 
here to-day; but the gentleman waits, as the en- 
emies of Fremont did last fall, until he has taken 
the field in front of the enemies of his country, 
and then comes into the council chamber of the 
nation and strikes his arrows at his back. I ask 
you, in the name of common justice, if it is not 
time to leave this man alone until the end of the 
War, and then punish him, if you will, if he can 
V proven guilty, until the malignity of the gen- 
tlVnan from New York is sated to its fullest ex- 
teA 

'^■^ gentleman said a few moments ago that 
whei'sg rej^^ the report of the committee, he made 
up 1i^s,Jq^ against Fremont. I met him in the 
city ot ^y York before the evidence had been 
pubVishe- ,'][igiaiiy^ and when he had seen nothing 
but the Hrraphic dispatches about it which 
■were sent \ ^j^^ -^-ires, and he told me then 



that he had lost confidence in Fremont. That 
was before Congress met, and before the com- 
mittee laid their report before this House, and 
was based upon mere newspaper statements. 

Mr. DIVEN. Does the gentleman say that I 
said anything of the kind? 

Mr. COLFAX. I do. I thought the gentle- 
man was listening to me ; but I will repeat what 
I said. I say that before Congress met, and be- 
fore the committee made their report, I met the 
gentleman in the city of New York, and he told 
me then that he had lost all confidence in Fre- 
mont. 

Mr. DIVEN I have no recollection of meet- 
ing the gentleman there. 

Mr. COLFAX. Yes, sir; it was at the St. 
Nicholas hotel. I remember exactly the place 
where we discussed the matter. I am sorry the 
gentleman's recollection does not accord with 
mine, for I am positive about it. . 

Now, sir, if the gentleman from New York de- 
sired to put this man at the bar of a criminal 
court for trial, why did he not seek the opportu- 
nity by appealing to the President or the Cab- 
inet, or to Congress, when General Fremont was 
not in active command against the enemies of 
his country? 

Mr. DIVEN. I did. 

Mr. COLFAX. Why did he not use his po- 
tential influence in this House to demand that 
investigation? Why did he wait until now, seek- 
ing, asit were, to make him appear a criminal 
before the country, to rob him of his influence 
in the department assigned to him by the Pres- 
ident, and to destroy the confidemje of his sol- 
diers and of the people in him, by digging up 
again the old story about the fortifications at St. 
Louis, unearthing it here, and attempting to 
clothe it with sufficient dignity to take General 
Fremont away from his troops, and put him 
upon his defence ? 

Mr. DIVEN. I do not propose a criminal pro- 
ceeding, but a suit at law. 

Mr. COLFAX. The gentleman does make 
him a criminal. A proceeding of this sort, en- 
dorsed by the American Congress, would virtu- 
ally brand him as a criminal. 

i expressed myself frily as to this fortificatioa 



contract six we^s ago, -in the debate between I behind fortifiontions is worth half a dozen men 



the gentljfman from- Missgurl 
General Frembnt wiiVnot in'af 



id mj'self, when 
.■tive command. 



I said then that I believed the terms of this con- 



tract were extravagant. I told the friends of 
Fi-cmont so because I believed it, and because I 
would not vindicate him at the expense of my 
own convictions and my own conscience. I think 
that too much money has been paid to these 
men, more than ought to have been paid them. 
But there are two things to be mentioned in pal- 
liation. In the first place, unlike other contracts 
for which money has been taken out of the Treas- 
ury, and from which no substantial benefit re- 
sulted to the country, there was something sub- 
stantial, in a military point of view, resulting 
from this. And let me tell the gentleman from 
New York, that when he goes home to his con- 
stituents and talks to them in opposition to Fre- 
mont, they will tell him that they would rather 
see money taken out of the Treasury, even ex- 
travagantly, for fortifications, than see it taken 
for contracts of other kinds with which other 
departments have been connected, and in re- 
gard to which the~ gentleman seeks no investi- 
gation and no trial before a court at the suit 
Of the Attorney General. Everywhere else, in 
every other department, mistakes that have been 
made in the purchase of horses, clothing, and 
other supplies, have been leniently treated — the 
public making allowances for the haste with 
which things had often to be done, the vast 
amount of business devolved on them, the 
unprepared condition of the country, and the 
fact that our governmental machinery was in- 
tended for peace and not for war. But with 
Fremont it has been different. Every possible 
attack has been made on him, and no allowances 
made for his exigencies. 

I think, Mr. Speaker, that the price paid for 
these fortifications was too high ; but look at the 
circumstances under which they were contracted 
for. Fremont was about leaving St. Louis with 
his army in pursuit of Price, seeking to rid the 
State of Missouri of the scoundrels who had 
brought it into insurrection, and to restore it to 
loyalty. He knew' that St. Louis Avas threatened, 
not only by attack from without, if his line at 
the south or southwest could be broken through, 
but was also threatened by secessionists in St. 
Louis. I saw even the other day that so much 
dislo}-a''ity still exists there, that guards had to 
be placed around the residences of women in St. 
Louis who moved in what are called "respecta- 
ble circles," because, when the sick and wounded 
soldiers from Pittsburg Landing came up, Avith 
captured reljel soldiers, these women waved 
flags and handkerchiefs from their windows, and 
hurrahed for Jeff. Davis. Fremont, knowing that 
he was about to leave the city and to start with 
his army on a long and difficult march, thought it 
necessary to have fortifications erected as speed- 
ily as possible, to defend St. Louis from foes 
without and foes within. Without hesitating 
sufficiently to drive a hard bargain, and to try 
and save as many sixpences as possible, he made 
this contract. He felt that he Avould save more 
money to the Government by dispensing with 
the necessity of leaving a large number of men 
defend St. Louis than he would by erecting 
ese fortifications. Remember that one man 



without them, for the defence of a city ; and then 
estimate the saving in the pay of the soldiers 
who could thus be dispensed with, and let that 
be offset against this " extravagance." I agree 
Avith the gentleman from Ncav York in this one 
thing, that the price paid for thi^work AA-as too 
high" But, sir, the army of the Potomac has 
cost $500,000,000, and has not yet chased the 
enemy as far as the army of Fremont did. It 
has cost nearly as much to take the army of the 
Potomac doAvn to Fortress Monroe and Yorktown 
— Avhich, T presume, knowing nothing about mili- 
tary stwvtegy, must be the best movement that can 
be made, though I much preferred Avhat is under- 
stood to have been the President's preferred plan 
— as the Avhole expense of the " hundred days of 
Fremont in Missouri." I think that if the gen- 
tleman from Ncav York desires to punish General 
Fremont, he ought, at least, to Avait till the war 
is over, and then appear and act as prosecuting 
attorney on behalf of the United States. 

The gentleman from New York says that any 
other man but Fremont Avould have gone down 
under the attacks made upon him. In that I 
concur Avith the gentleman. I think it is true. 
I think that if these poisoned arroAVS .had been 
showered on any other general than Fremont he 
Avonld have gone doAvn under them. General 
Fremont Avas attacked through the telegraph, 
attacked through committees, Avithout having an 
opportunity to defend himself. There has been 
comraittee'after committee spreading ex parte ev- 
idence before the country and the Avorld, without 
ever saying to him, " Here ai-e charges against 
you : have you any explanation to make? If so, 
come before us, and you shall have an opportu- 
nity to vindicate yourself. You can look these 
Avitnesses in the eye, can cross-examine them, 
and can bring forAvard Avitnesses, if you please, 
to explain these things if they are susceptible of 
explanation." Instead of that, these ex parte re- 
ports have been spread before the country, and 
General Fremont has not had that opportunity 
Avhich the humblest man in thg land should have 
to defend himself. All this Avas done, just as if 
the charges Avere unansAverable, undisputed, and 
as if there could be no explanation. 

I saAv the otlier day a report made by a gentle- 
man whose services to the country I esteem, and 
whom personally I have admired — I allude to 
Hon. Joseph Holt, of Kentucky — condemning 
Fremont for forcing the banks of St. Louis to 
supply money for his army, and declaring posi- 
tively that no explanation of it had ever been 
given by him. If Mr. Holt had read the letter of 
General Fremont to the President of the United 
States at that time, published, too, nearly a 
month before his report was, he AVonld have 
found a full explanation of it. He Avould have 
seen that General Fremont told the Presideu- 
that he had no money to pay his troops, tV* 
they Avere in a state of mutiny, and that the/^v 
Avay to procure money Avas to get it out i? '"^ 
sub-Treasury, or force a loan out of the^'^^^'j^s- 
sion banks of St. Louis. As I underst//' *'ie 
President never dissented from the ■',, ^ ^^- 
pressed by General Fremont in that l-'y ' "^^'^i" 
said that he should not resort to '^ ™eans. 



Having thus notified the liig^est '*X^^^ *f|e 
Government of his reasons, he ^'f '^ ''"® 



money in this way; and now Mr. Holt comes out I 
and says that no explanation of the act has ever j 
been made, and on that erroneous statement of 
, his own proceeds to condemn him. Here is the 
proof of what I assert, in a letter from Fremont 
to the President, July 30, 1861: 

" Our troops have not been paid, and some regiments are in 
a slate of mutiny, aud the men whuso term of service is ex- ] 
pired geneially reftise to enlist. / lost a fine regiment last 
night fr<im i- ability to pay them a portion of the money due. 
This regime^it had been intended to move on a critical 2>vst last 
night. The Treasurer of the tJiiited States bus here 
$1)00,000 entirely unappropriated. I applied to him yester- 
day lor .«100,0(iO fur my Payniusler General Andrews, but 
was refused We have not an hour for delay. There are 
three courses open to me. One, to let the enemy po sess 
himself of some of the strongest points in the State, and 
threaten St. Louia, which is insurrectionary. Second. To 

FOKCK A LOAN FROM SECESSION BANKS HERE. Third. To USO 

the money belonging to the Govenmient which is in the 
Tre.isury here. Uf course, I will neither lose the State nor 
permit the enemy a fool of advantage. I have infused en- 
ergy and activity into the departmeut, and there is a thor- 
ough good spirit in otBcers and men. This morning 1 will 
order the Treasurer to deliver the money in his possession 
to General Andrews, and will send a force to the Treasury 
to take the money, and will direct such payments as the ex- 
igency requires. I %vUl hazard everything for tlie defence if 
the department you have confided to me, and I trust to you for 
support. ' ' 

Jlr. MALLORY. Will the gentleman from 
Indiana allow me a remark ? 

Jlr. COLFAX. Certainly. 

Mr. MALLORY. In view of the facts just 
mentioned by the gentleman from Indiana, it oc- 
curs to me that that gentleman, who is the friend 
of General Fremont, ought to desire, by all means, 
that General Fremont should now have an op- 
portunit}^ of coming before a court of justice and 
proving that he has not embezzled public money ; 
that he has not taken money without ^-arrant of 
law ; that he has acted justly and honestly and 
patriotically in those matters wherein so much 
fraud is imputed to him by this investigating 
committee. I understand that that is virtually 
the proposition made by the gentleman from 
from New York, [Mr. Diven.] It occurs to me that 
the last thing which the friends of General Fre- 
mont should do, who have heretofore complain- 
ed that investigation was stifled, and that he 
was deprived of bringing witnesses before the 
committee to prove his innocence, is to object to 
a process by which he would be enabled to ap- 
pear before a court of justice, and defend him- 
self from these charges. 

Mr. COLFAX. My friend from Kentucky has 
been rather long in stating his point, but I will 
answer him briefly. He, like myself, has con- 
fidence in the President of the United States. 
The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the 
army and navy. He makes generals and he un- 
makes them. He puts some up, and puts others 
down. On charges made against Fremont he de- 
posed him. From evidence submitted b}' that 
General before the committee on the conduct of 
the war. the President, as I understand, and as I 
presume from his act, has become satisfied that 
these charges were not worthy the dignity he 
first supposed they were ehtitled to. At all 
events he has reinstated General Fremont, and 
has intrusted him with an important command. 
From that I think he is satisfied with the vin- 
dication of General Fremont. And I have not 
heard that anybody', even- Fremont's bitterest 
enemy, ever charged him with embezzling a dol-: 
lar of the public money for his benefit. 



The gentleman from Kentucky will allow me 
to say further, in all kindness, that the friends 
of General Fremont — of whom I claim to be one 
— need hardly be expected to look to those who 
are inimical to him for suggestions as to what 
justice requires at their hands. The gentleman 
from New York told us a little while ago that 
the friends of General Fremont ought to have 
danianded his trial. So they might, if there 
were any substantial charges affecting his hon- 
esty properly brought, upon which an impartial 
hearing could be expected ; but not upon such a 
resolution as this, offered by a gentleman who, 
in his speech advocating it, prejudges the case 
and condemns the man he attacks before trial. 

Mr. DIVKN. If the gentleman will allow me, 
I want to refer in this connection to a remark 
used some time ago by the gentleman from Indi- 
ana. I desire to disclaim most expressly what I 
understood the gentleman to impute to me, and 
which I presume the gentleman intends now to 
impute to me, — that is, malice. Now, in God's 
name, how can I entertain malice to a man who 
is an entire stranger to me? 

Mr. COLFAX. I am glad to know the gen- 
tleman does not. I supposed from the intro- 
duction of this resolution, and the speech he has 
made upon it to-day, that he did entertain hos- 
tile feelings towards General Fremont. 

Mr. DIVEN. No, sir ; I expressly disclaim 
any such sentiment or feeling. When this reso- 
lution was introduced. General Fremont was not 
employed at all in the field, nor was he in the 
service of the country at all, and I proposed this 
as the most practicable method I could devise of 
obtaining an impartial investigation. 

Inasmuch, however, as the circumstances are 
now changed in that respect, I would be not wil- 
ling to do anything that should take him from 
his official duties or to embarrass him in com- 
mand. lAvill, therefore, if I have the opportu- 
nity, so amend the resolution as to leave out the 
name of General Fremont altogether, leaving 
the suit to be prosecuted against Mr. Beard, who 
has pocketed the money, and that he shall re- 
ceive all that his contract, whatever it is, would 
allow him. ' 

Mr. LOVEJOY. The gentleman from New 
York will allow me to say one word. 

Mr. COLFAX. I am upon the floor, and do 
not like to give away all the brief hour I am en- 
titled to. 

Mr. LOVEJOY. Just one word. 

Mr. COLFAX. Well, go ahead. 

Mr. LOVEJOY. The gentleman from New 
York thinks it is utterly impossible that he 
should entertain any such feeling as malice, and 
supposes there can be no reason for entertaining 
any such sentiment on his part. Mr. Speaker, 
the gentleman will remember that Juno enter- 
tained malice towards the Trojans and towards 
their stern goddesses, because her charms had 
been once rejected. Now, the gentleman may 
have some similar reason for denying that he 
entertains malice. 

Mr. DIVEN. I would like very much to have 
the gentleman make the application of his allu- 
sion. I really cannot comprehend it. 

Jlr. LOVEJOY. I recommend the gentleman 
to study Virgil. 

Mr. DIYEN, I am afraid it is rather late iii 



the day to commence my classical education. 
[Laughter.] 

Mr. COLFAX. I am vciy much gratified to 
learn that the effect of what I liave said has half 
converted the gentleman from New York, as I 
perceive it has done, so far as to induce him to 
strike out half his resolution, the part referring 
to the General at whom his speech was aimed. 
Now, if the gentleman will go a little further 
and strike out the other half, I think it will se- 
cure a pretty unanimous vote of the House 
[Laughter.] 

Mr. LOVEJOY. I ask the gentleman to allow 
me for a moment. I do not want to make any 
speech, but I wish to say a word particularly upon 
this point. It does seem to me that when this 
peripatetic inquisitorial committee has finished 
its peregrinations over the country, done up its 
work, got all its victims into the cell, and tor- 
tured them with thumb-screws down there as 
much as it desires, it then ought to follow the 
practice of the old Spanish Inquisition — bring 
them all out en matise and have one general 
auto da /e, instead of bringing them out piece- 
meal every week, and first torture the victim by 
burning off one hand, then sending him back, 
then bringing him out and burning the stuaip, 
and then burning off the other hand. I am 
tired of this protracted torture. I want to see 
them all brought out, burned up at once, and 
have the thing done. [Laughter.] I think it 
is exceedingly inopportune, wlieu these generals 
are now in the field in the face of the enemy, to 
be continually bringing up these cases and 
hounding down these men. If it is not malice 
prepense, it is something that looks very much 
like it. 

Mr. COLFAX. I had almost concluded what 
I had to say in reply to the gentleman from New 
York. But before I take my seat, however, I 
will add a single other remark in regard to 
another one of his statements. The gentleman 
told the truth when he said tliat no other General 
could have stood up under all the charges that 
have been brought against General Fremont. 
Sir, it is trye, slanders have fallen on him as 
thick as the leaves of Vallambrosa. 

Mr. DIVEN. The gentleman will allow me to 
correct him. He has repeated that statement be- 
fore. I did not say that any other General would 
have fallen under the attacks that have been 
made upon General Fremont. I said that any 
other General would have fallen under the c-n;- 
hibition of the proof which is exhibited against 
General Fremont. That is what I said. 

Mr. COLFAX. I confess I cannot see the sub- 
stantial difference between the statement I have 
made and the correction made by the gentleman; 
but I will not quarrel about words. I say to the 
gentleman that it is because of the belief of the 
people of this country in Fremont's patriotism, a 
belief that no mountain of slander can crush out, 
that he has not been stricken down by these at- 
tacks upon him. I do not believe that he is perfect. 
I believe that, like every other man, he is liable to 
mistakes. I do not claint infallibility for him. I 
believe he made a mistake in reference to the 
price paid for these fort contracts. I believe, 
however, that other generals have made far 
greater pecuniary mistakes. I know, also, that 
in reference to his pontoon-bridge building, of 



•which Judge Holt speaks in his report as a mag- 
nificent folly, that it was prepared in view of a 
plan which was not carried into execution, for 
reasons that I cannot disclose here, as the war 
is not yet over, and which would otherwise have 
not been money thrown awaj'. vVnd I sincerely 
believe, if there had been half even of such a 
pontoon bridge on the Potomac upon a subse- 
quent occasion, the people of the country Avould 
have been willing to pay for it, even, if needs 
be, by private subscription, rather than to have 
seen the gallant soldiers of the country driven 
into the Potomac and murdered by the enemy 
after the reverse at Ball's Bluff, while attempting 
to escape to the opposite shore. 

There are many other things for which General 
Fremont has been arraigned; but when his acts 
are subjected to the stern verdict of history, he 
will be found to be a man far more sinned against 
than erring. 

Mr. THOMAS, of Massachusetts. The gentle- 
man says he would not attack a General in the 
field. I ask him, whether, for the same reason, 
he should not withhold an attack upon a man in 
prison ? 

Mr. COLFAX. I have attacked no man in 
prison. 

Mr. THOMAS, of Massachusetts. The gentle- 
man referred to the Ball's Bluff affair, and to 
General Stone. 

Mr. COLFAX. The gentleman does me injus- 
tice if he supposes I attacked any one in that 
connection. I made no reference to General Stone 
or General McClellan, or the then Secretary of 
War, or to anybody else, as responsible for that 
sad disaster. But, sir, whoever is responsible 
for the passage of that' army over the Potomac, 
with but two scows as the only means of cross- 
ing the river ; whoever is responsible for the 
darkness and desolation brought into the house- 
holds of so many families iu the land, I Avould 
not exchange positions with him for a coronet of 
rubies and diamonds. I would not have upon 
my skirts the blood thus needlessly spilt upon 
that disastrous battle-field for all the gold of 
California or the mines of Golconda. I donotflay 
who is responsible ; for, with the imperfect evi- 
dence on that point, I do not know positively. 
But I do say, that if what Judge Holt calls this 
magnificent folly of pontoon-bridge building had 
been performed here before the battle of liall's 
Bluff, the women of the country, if they could 
have looked prophetically into the future, would 
have paid for it with their jewels before they 
would have permitted the sacrifice of the valua- 
ble lives lost in that disaster. 

Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. I wish to ask the 
gentleman whether lives lost at Springfield were 
not as precious as those at Ball's Bluff' ? 

Mr. COLFAX. The gentleman from Missouri 
and myself had a debate upon the subject of the 
battle of Springfield the other day, in the course 
of which I made some statements from the record 
in reference to the battle to which he now alludes, 
to which he made no reply. If the gentleman 
desires to reply on some occasion when the House 
has two or three hours to spare, I shall not ob- 
ject to going over the argument with him again. 
Yes, sir, the lives lost at Springfield were pre- 
cious, and if General Fremont could have saved 
them, and saved Cairo too, as I proved the other 



day he could not, they -svould have been saved. 
The geatleinari will recollect that I explained 
all this in my debate with him last month, quot- 
ing McClellan's dispatch about tlic lack of troops 
even to save Cairo, General Prentiss's dispatch, 
and the statement of Lyon's adjutant general. 

The gentleman also remembers that, at the time 
when he was straining every nerve to reinforce 
Lexington, an order was received by General 
Fremont to send five thousand of the small force 
under his command to Washington. And, I might 
add, that we are indebted to the President of the 
United States that the order was not for twenty- 
five thousand instead of five thousand, for that 
was the number originally demanded to be trans- 
ferred from the department of the West to the 
army of the Potomac at that very time. 

Mr. Speaker, whatever feults General Fremont 
has, I am willing to admit them as readily as 
any other man; but I will not continue to repeat 
them, forgetful altogether -of the very many 
qualities of energy, daring, and patriotism which 
he possesses. He says in his defence before the 
committee on the conduct of the war, that he 
fixed the prices for the fortification contract on 
the advice and recommendation of others. The 
commanding general of a large department has 
to do many things on the advice of others. My 
friend from Missouri [Mr. Blair] has had the 
opportunity to see as well as I have had, the 
vast amount of business, of responsibility, of 
care, which devolved upon the commander-in- 
chief of a military department like that of Mis- 
souri, Kansas, and Western Kentucky at the time 
General Fremont was there. It is an utter im- 
possibility for him to investigate every contract 
that must necessarily be made, and scrutinise 
every sixpence that may have to be expended. 

Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. What business has 
a commanding general to make these contracts? 

Mr. DIVEN. I clo not find fault, if the gentle- 
man from Indiana will permit me to interrupt 
him 

Mr. COLFAX. I will answer the gentlemen 
one at a time, unless they insist on my yielding 
to both at once. General Fremont was sent out 
there with powers of a larger character than are 
generally- given to a commander of a department. 
He had received instructions from the Adminis- 
tration here that he should take the responsi- 
bility necessary for the preservation of the integ- 
rity of the country in that quarter. The dis- 
patches are voluminous, and I do not know that, 
thus suddenly participating in this debate, I can 
turn to the exact ones which I desire ; but I will 
try to do so. They have all been published. 
Here is one of the 26th of July, 1861, from a 
Cabinet officer. 

Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. Read the other one. 

Mr. BINGHAM. No, read that one. 

Mr. COLFAX. I will read the dispatch, which 
is as follows : 

■W.ASHIKGTON, July 26, 1S61. 

Dear General : I have two telegrams from yon, but flud 
it impossible now to get any attention to Missouri or western 
matters from the authorities here. You will have to do the 
best you can, and take all needful respimsihilHy to defend 
and protect Ih^ people over whom you are specially set. 

Yours truly and in haste, M. BLAIR. 

Now, if a Cabinet officer could not get atten- 
tion paid to this matter right on the spot, is it 
fair to make such exacting demands of the com- 



mander-in-chief of a department? Here is a 
Cabinet officer speaking, as on the counsel of the 
President of the United States, telling (ieneral 
Fremont that he will have to do the best he can, 
and to take all necessary responsibility to defend 
the country. 

A Membkr. Who was that Cabinet officer? 

Mr. COLFAX. Hon. Montgomery Blair, Post- 
master General. 

Here is another dispatch from General l\Iont- 
gomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the 
United States Army: 

[Extracts from letters of the Hon. M. Blair, P. JI. G.] 
" Washixgto.n, Septemher 3, SOI. 

" Meigs legged me this afiernoou to get you tooriler filteen- 
inch guns from Pittsburgh for your gunboats. He says that 
the boats can empty any battery the enemy can make with 
such guns. He admses that \ov contract for them directly 
YOURSELF, telliny the contractor you ■mlldirect YOuK ordxance 
OFFiCEH to pay for them." 

There was the authority, from the Quarter- 
master General of the Army of the United States, 
sent through a Cabinet officer, telling him to go 
on with the work, and that if it is necessary to 
make contracts, to make them, and to give his 
staff officer the necessary orders for proper pay- 
ment. Notwithstanding this direct and positive 
authority, one of the most pointed charges in 
the recent report of Mr. Holt against General 
Fremont was, that he had contracted for ord- 
nance without having the matter go through the 
Ordnance Bureau at Washington. Here is Gen- 
eral Fremont's defence, patent to everybody. 
Here is the order from the highest officer in the 
quartermaster's department, sent through a Cab- 
inet officer, for him to do exactly what he has 
done. 

But I have not yet got through with these dis- 
patches. If I had supposed that this debate 
would take place to-day, I would have prepared 
myself with references; but I did not expect it. 

Mr. DIVEN. I am rather astonished to know 
what has become of the resolution which is 
really the subject-matter before the House. 
[Laughter.] I think the gentleman has forgot- 
ten it altogether. 

Mr. COLFAX. If the gentleman will withdraw 
his resolution, I will at once leave the floor. 
But I am only citing these points to show the 
"justice" General Fremont has received, and of 
which the pending resolution is only another ex- 
ample. 

Mr. DIVEN. I will amend it to the extent I 
have stated, but I will not withdraw it. 

Mr. COLFAX. I do not ask him to do it. But 
to resume. Here is another telegram from Mont- 
gomery C. Meigs directed to Francis P. Blair, 
none other than my honorable friend from Mis- 
souri: 

" Tell General Fremont that no man more than myself 
desires to sustain him, no one is more ready to take the re- 
sponsibility to assist him, and that he has, in my ojiinion, 
already the power which you say ought to be conferred 
upon him by the President. Whatever a general command- 
ing orders, the subordinates of his staff are by regulaliotxs 
COMPELLED to do , if possible. 

" The general is charged with saving the country. The 
country will be very careful to approve his measures, and will 
judge his mistakes, if any, very tenderly, if successful. Suc- 
cess crowns the work, and let Hiii spake no responsibiuty, no 
effort to secure il. ' ' 

That was on the 2 1st of August. My friend 
from Missouri, at that time, to use an expression 
which fell from the gentleman the other daj^, was 
one of those who, up to that time, was '< an idol- 



6 



ator" of General John C. Fremont. Listen to 
what General Meigs, an old army officer, and of 
much more experience in these matters than 
General Fremont could be expected to be — 
listen to what he says: "The country" "will 
judge his mistakes, if any, very tenderly, if suc- 
cessful." It was General Meigs's honest opinion 
they would; but experience has shown that he 
was not a prophet. He did not know how bit- 
terly Fremont was to be attacked before another 
month even had rolled around. And this letter 
shows, too, and most significant!}', that my friend 
from Missouri had, at that time, been insisting 
on more power being given to Fremont. And 
(Jeneral Meigs closes impressively with, " let 
HIM SPARE NO RESPONSIBILITY." And now Fre- 
mont is denounced by committees and otliers, 
because he complied with this earnest injunc- 
tion. 

I want the House to notice that every respons- 
ibility assumed by General Fremont, about which 
complaint was made, was rolled upon him by or 
through the authorities in Washington. X Cab- 
inet officer wrote him that he, even with all the 
power and influence of a Cabinet minister, could 
not get attention paid to western business at 
Washington, and that General Fremont must 
take the responsibility, and defend the people at 
every hazard. General Meigs said that he need 
not send down here for cannon, but that he 
should contract for them out there, and order 
them to be paid for by his own ordnance otHcer. 
When he has assumed that responsibility, these 
attacks against him on that score, to my mind, 
seem to me entirelj' unjustifiable. He was point- 
edly told by the authorities here that a general 
is charged with the safety of his country. Gen- 
eral Meigs wrote that letter from an honest 
heart ; but he did not know the men of 18G1 and 
18G2. Instead of judging of the acts of a Gen- 
eral, under the circumstances, " tenderly," they 
have, on the contraiy, magnified and distorted 
the actions of General Fremont at a trying time, 
so as to do his character the grossest injustice 
before the American people. 

These attacks do not cease even now, when he 
has been appointed to a new department, crowded 
in between two others, with not a single regi- 
ment sent to reinforce him since his arrival 
there, because, I suppose, none could be spared 
from other fields, and yet in a week after he 
reached Wheeling, with his usual vigor, he sets 
in motion his advance column, few in numbers, 
but brave as himself, drives the enemy from his 
front, and, regardless of odds, is already threat- 
ening Staunton. Now, while he is striving with 
might and main to drive rebellious hordes 
from Virginia, the gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Diven] comes in to-day, upon the floor of 
the House of Representatives, and gravely asks 
us, in the face of the country, to vote for a reso- 
lution, the effect of which would be to condemn 
General Fremont in advance, and before he had 
any trial. General Meigs said that they would 
judge his mistakes, if he made them, " tenderly." 
What has been the result? They have been 
magnified from mole-hills into mountains, his 
best acts misrepresented, and he himself con- 
demned by those hostile to him without the least 
show of a trial. I ask nothing for General Fre- 
mont but justice. I ask that one of the generals 



of the American army shall not, by the actioa 
of this House, have his usefulness destroyed in 
the new field of labor to Avhich he has been sent 
by the President. Let not these attacks be con- 
tinued, when the President, who is acquainted 
with all the facts involved in the controversy, 
has shown his confidence in General Fremont 
by assigning him to another department. If we 
love our country, if we Ipve justice, give this 
man a chance to be heard before he is stricken 
down. Do not let en parte investigations, of which 
there have been so man}' in his case, become the 
rule of justice in this land. 

I say— and I think gentlemen will agree Avith 
me— ^that the expenditures of the department of 
the West under General Fremont, however ex- 
travagant they maj' be alleged to be, were eco- 
nomical compared with the expenditures in the 
other military departments, so far as regards the 
duty performed, the difficulties which were sur- 
mounted, and the vexatious responsibilities which 
had necessarily to be assumed. If we are to take 
any action like that which has been suggested by 
the gentleman from New York, let us wait until 
the end of the war. If the President, for good 
cause, strikes down General Fremont, I will not 
be the man to complain. When the President 
removed him from the command of the depart- 
ment of the West no murmur of complaint was 
heard from me. I bowed to his decision, though 
I regretted it. When it was understood the com- 
mittee on the conduct of the war felt, after hear- 
ing both sides, that he was fit for a command, 
and the President gave one to him, I rejoiced, as 
did hundreds of thousands of others, at this act 
of justice. The cause of the country is dear to 
me — dearer to me than all personal considera- 
tions. In every efibrt which I may make for its 
safety and success, I never want it to be said that 
petty malice stood in the way of my duty. 

General Fremont has had ifo regiments sent to 
him since he has been put in command of the 
Jlountain department — perhaps, as I have said, 
because none could be spared. Even Colonel 
Garfield's brigade has been removed from Cum- 
berland Gap in his department, and ordered by 
General Halleck to Western Tennessee — probably, 
I suppose, because needed there, but, of course, 
postponing his movement into Eastern Tennes- 
see.* Notwithstanding that. General Fremont 
has gone to work with vigor. He has pushed 
the enemj' back in middle Virginia, and General 
Milroy, under his orders, still continues to ad- 
vance upon them. 

Mr. STEVENS. I remember that during the 
revolutionaiy war there was more than one cabal 
got up against General Washington, more pow- 
erful in their elements than those which have 
for some time past assailed General Fremont. 
The only difference was in the class of assailants. 
That difference is very much in favor of those 
who assail General Fremont. Then there were 
very few found trying to destroy the general of 



* In one of the speeches delivered in Cincinnati by that 
sturdy old patriot. Parson Brownlow, ho thus expressed 
his oiiiiiion oi'Goueral Fremont : 

" When tlic army went to East Tennessee he wanted to go 
along. It was in Fremont's department, and ho was glad 
of it. Fre.mo.vt was his sort of a man and ho wanted to go 
with him to East Tennessee. There had been a great deal 
of hanging on one Side, and he wished to superintend it on 
the other." 



our armies except Cowboys and Tories ; now, I 
am sorry to say, General Fremont's personal 
friends, and patriots of the nation, are assailing 
him. That is the only cfifterenee between the 
two cases. Otherwise they would be parallel. 
But, sir, the means taken to assail General Fre- 
mont are more 'infamous than were ever exer- 
cised towards the Father of his Countrj' to destroy 
his reputation ; and I must say here tliat I am 
astonished to find the gentleman from Missouri 
impeaching the conduct of the President of the 
United .States in his restoration of General Fre- 
mont. The motive which the gentleman from 
Missouri attributes to the President in that ap- 
pointment was not to vindicate an injured man ; 
not to show that he disbelieved the trash and 
slander which have been heaped upon him. No; 
but the gentleman said tliat it had been heard in 
the North that General Fremont had not returned 
fugitive slaves to their masters ; that it was sup- 
posed tliat that was the reason of his removal, 
and that in order to wipe away that impression 
and to gain some favor himself — if I understood 
anything of what the gentleman said — the Presi- 
dent had put General Fremont into a command 
where he could do neither harm nor good. Now, 
if ever there was a more serious charge made 
against an honorable man in high office than 
that made against the motives of the President 
of the United States, by the gentleman from 
Missouri, I have yet to learn it. The gentleman 
has made none so bad against General Fremont, 
although lie has joined in condemning him as a 
I^hmderer — a venial offence compared with that 
charged against the President of the United 
States. 

But, sir, I was going on to state the means 
taken to destroy General Fremont. For some 
reason or other, after his proclamation declaring 
freedom to a few of the slaves of rebels — whether 
in consequence of that or not I do not know; I 
suppose not — there were extraordinary missions 
and commissions sent on his track to St. Louis. 
In the first instance, one was a Cabinet officer, 
and another an officer of the Government. After 
V their return, anotlier Cabinet officer was sentout, 
together with a military officer — the Adjutant 
General. The record made by him is one which 
would disgrace any man, if he were judged ac- 
cording to his merits; picking up every scrap of 
scandal, from what an old woman told them in 
Cincinnati to what old-womanish men told them 
in St. Louis and elsewhere, and noting down 
these hearsay charges and these opinions of the 
capacity of General Fremont. A record was 
made of all this, without his knowledge, behind 
his back, and without his ever having an oppor- 
tunity of presenting anything in contradiction 
or explanation. That paper, containing not one 
scrap of anything which a decent man could look 
upon as evidence, not containing anything which 
even the gentleman from New York [Mr. Diven] 
would look upon as evidence against the man he 
wishes to injure, was published to the world un- 
der the authority of the Departmentwhich made 
it. After that was done a committee, composed 
evidently of enemies to General Fremont, went 
on his track to St. Louis, while he was away, 
hunting the enemy, and there, without notice to 
him, without ever giving him an opportunity to 
appear before them, then, or at any other time 



since — for such I understand to be the General's 
testimony — they hunted up the evidence which 
they chose to take. And what is it? Among 
the rest, that there were returned Californians 
on his staff. That seems to be the great griev- 
ance of the gentleman from Missouri, that the 
returned Californians got the contracts, and 
that some other people, of course, did not, which 
was a pity. 

But how came these returned Californians ? The 
tpstimony taken before the committee on Gov- 
ernment contracts shows that General Fremont 
left California on the 1st of January, and went 
to Pjurope. He never has been back there since. 
Invited by his country to come and assist in the 
defence of the nation against the rebels, he re- 
turned here, and reached St. Louis, I believe, 
late in July. This Mr. Beard left California in 
tlie beginning of August; and the General states 
that he had never had a letter from him nor 
written a letter to him, nor known that he was 
coming here till he saw him. And yet the gen- 
tleman from Missouri, knowing these facts, and 
having this evidence on record, talks about 
Fremont's inviting a gang of Californians to 
plunder the nation. Sir, such things in a pet- 
tifogger would be detestable, but in a member 
of tliis House they are respectable. [Much 
hmgiiter.] 

Mr. BLAIR, of Missouri. What was the gen- 
tleman's remark? I did not hear it. 

Mr. STEVENS. I said that in a member of 
the House they were respectable, and I hope the 
gentleman takes no offence at that. [Laughter.] 

Now, sir, I am not inquiring into the motives 
which induced these former friends to become 
such bitter enemies. It has been said, I believe 
by the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. Colf.vx,] 
that the gentleman from Missouri professed him- 
self to be an idolater of Fremont some time ago. 
Well, that only illustrates by another instance, 
that those who forsake their idols from any 
cause always become iconoclasts ; they are the 
very men to break down the images that they 
worshiped before, and they do it more becau&e 
they have worshiped them than any other 
reason. 

But, sir, I will examine for a single moment 
the testimony upon which the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Diven] founds his charge, and 
asks that suit be brought against General Fre- 
mont. I believe it is not anywhere said even in 
that document^that record of "the school for 
scandal''— that General Fremont has received 
one dollar of the public money which he was not 
entitled to. There is no pretence, and, except it 
be by the insinuations of the gentleman from 
Missouri — and I do not know that he insinuated 
it — there is no charge that Fremont was a part- 
ner in any of these contracts which have been 
denounced as fraudulent. It is not proved or 
pretended that Fremont has one dollar of the 
public money in his possession ; and j-et the gen- 
tleman from New York introduces a resolution 
charging that in so many words, and directing 
the Attorney General of the United States to sue 
him for the money which he has got in his pos- 
session. 

Mr. DIVEN. No, sir; the gentleman mistakes 
the resolution. It is for the money illegally ob- 
tained. « 



Mr. STEVENS. Illegally obtained by General 
Fremont. 

Mr. DIVEN. No ; that is not the resolution. 

Mr. STEVENS. Suit is to be brought against 
General Fremont and Beard for money illegally 
obtained by them, when, even in this record that 
he has referred to, he cannot find a word indica- 
ting that General Fremont has now, or ever had, 
one dullar of it. Why, sir, this resolution is but 
the proper supplement to that ex ■parte report. 

Mr. THOMAS, of Massachusetts. Will the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania allow me to sug- 
gest that no member of the committee is present? 

Mr. STEVENS. Then the gentleman from 
New York should not have brought up this res- 
olution. 

Mr. THOMAS, of Massachusetts. I merely 
make the suggestion to the gentleman. 

Mr. STEV^ENS. I cannot be prohibited from, 
attending to the record. That is here, if they are 
not. I cannot sit quiet until they come, although 
I wish they were present. 

The committee take up one matter — and if the 
gentleman from New York had examined into it 
he would have seen what this record is worth — 
under the head of " buying horses," and they 
say that a man of the name ofSacchi, M'hom Gen- 
eral Fremont had become acquainted with in the 
city of New York on his return, they suppose, 
went out there and desired to enter into a con- 
tract to furnish Canadian horses, and that Fre- 
mont directed a contract to be made with him 
for Canadian horses that were never furnished, 
and I believe they do not say that there was any 
money paid. The committee then go on to say 
that it is a remarkable fact that this sameSacchi 
Avas a member of General Fremont's staff. Now, 
sir, an affidavit has been made by this man who 
had the contract for horses, and who the com- 
mittee say they suppose lived in a garret in New 
York, in which he says that he went out there 
and made his contract, I believe through this 
same Mr. Woods; that he never furnished the 
horses, because when the time was out Fremont 
aljrogated the contract for want of fulfilment ; 
that he is an old man of sixty-odd years of age, 
who, instead of being an adventurer living in a 
garret, has, during the last ten years, as the re- 
cords of the city of New York will show, bought 
and sold property in that city for more than 
$100,000; and that the Mr. Sacchi who was on 
Fremont's staff was a young Hungarian officer, 
who had come there but a short time before, 
and was but thirty years of age. And yet the 
committee, upon suchtestimony as is here in this 
report, go on to blacken the character of a man 
whose patriotism was never doubted until tliese 
people were set upon the scent by some person 
who had be(-ome his enemy. 

Mr. ROSCOE CONKLING. Will the gentle- 
man allow me to make a remark just there? 

Mr. STEVENS. Yes, sir. 

Mr. ROSCUE CONKLING. This young man 
Sacchi, who is named here, is, I understand, a 
man who has been decorated for heroic actions 
upon the battle-fields of Italy more than once; a 
man who came here following the star of free- 
dom as the shepherds followed the star of Beth- 
lehem, and went out into that department and 
joined Fremont's staff, not for pay, not for rank, 
but as a volunteer ; a man w^o came here, in 



the language of another, " to crusade for freedom 
in freedom's holy land." 

Mr. STEVENS. It is enough for me to know 
that he is not the man who made the horse 
contract at all. [Laughter.] And if the com- 
mittee had had an honest purpose to know the 
truth, they would have known 'that; and yet 
they fill several pages of their report in charging 
that Fremont gave this contract to a member of 
his own staff. I ask what you would think of 
the testimony of such a witness found lying one 
day? Would you believe him on the next? 
You are an able lawyer, and know how much 
credit such a witness is entitled to. You know 
that if he is found falsifying in one case you 
will not believe him in any. Yet this grave 
charge against General Fremont is set up upon 
such testimony as that. 

Now in regard to these contracts for forts it is 
in evidence, in the report of the committe to 
which I have referred, that General Fremont 
did not pretend to know the price that ought to 
be paid for such work. He set men to work 
on them, and they worked as our men did about 
this city, night and day, Avhen it was beleaguer- 
ed, or was supposed to be. And he referred the 
settlement of their accounts to whom ? To the 
quartermaster general of his army, Mr. McKin- 
stry, a man who the gentleman from Missouri 
will not find was appointed by the Government 
here under the recommendation of General Fre- 
mont, or at his suggestion. He told Mr. McKin- 
stry to take tlie accounts and cut them down to 
what was right, and he would sanction it. That 
was done ; and now he is charged with plunder- 
ing the Treasury for paying— if they have been 
paid — these California swindlers and plunderers. 

Gentlemen talk about time. Why, sir, it was 
as late as the 26th of August that a member of 
the Cabinet, belonging to the family of the re- 
spectable member from Missouri, wrote a very 
friendly letter to General Fremont, and his only 
complaint was that he could not get anything done 
for him by a perverse President and a perverse 
Cabinet. Now, I know not what it was that in- 
terrupted the liarmony that existed between 
those two gentlemen ; but it seems to me it 
would have been the same way if a set of con- 
tractors — say two, one living in Chicago and the 
other in St. Louis — had been recommended by 
certain gentlemen for a contract of perhaps 
$750,000 on about the 25th of August. It Avas 
refused to them, and then the feud broke out. 
God knows what was the cause of it. I do not. 
I know nothing about it. I do not beliqve there 
is anything infamous in it. I believe it is all 
for the country's good — the only difference being 
as to the proper means to be used. 

Mr. Speaker, I did not rise to make a long 
speech. If it were proper I would move to dis- 
charge this scandal-hunting committee from any 
further proceedings, for I believe in my con- 
science that they have committed more frauds 
than they have detected. They are spending the 
country's money and S(uindalizing the country's 
best men. 

At the conclusion of the debate, the resolu- 
tion of Mr. DivEN was almost unauiinously laid 
on the table. 



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